The National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced a new online
resource for pathologists, ophthalmologists, optometrists,
and students. The David G. Cogan Ophthalmic Pathology
Collection, a study and teaching collection of clinical
ophthalmic cases and their pathology, is now available
worldwide from the NEI Website at http://www.nei.nih.gov.

“The Cogan Collection will serve as a critical component
to further our understanding of eye diseases and their
treatments,” said NEI director Paul A. Sieving, M.D.,
Ph.D. “Knowledge of pathology is absolutely essential
to the overall study and understanding of eye diseases.
The Cogan Collection has the enormous potential to impact
the teaching of ophthalmic pathology and clinical ophthalmology
with the resultant improvement in diagnosis and treatment
of patients.”

The Internet-accessible Cogan Collection comprises
1,040 cases and 3,000 slides. The clinical descriptions
and photographs were collected by David G. Cogan, M.D.
during his career as both a clinical and research ophthalmologist.

Prior to coming to the NEI, Dr. Cogan served as director
of the Howe Laboratory of the Harvard Medical School
for 33 years. During this time he contributed greatly
to the direction of ophthalmic research and made significant
contributions to the field of neurology. He also served
as chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard
Medical School; chief editor of the Archives of Ophthalmology;
and member of the editorial boards of Investigative
Ophthalmology and the Albrecht Von Graefes Archiv fur
Klinishe und Experimentelle Ophthalmologie. Dr. Cogan
was also among the initial members of the National Advisory
Eye Council of the NEI.

When Dr. Cogan retired from Harvard in 1973, Carl Kupfer,
M.D., who was the NEI director at the time, invited
him to join NEI as a senior scientist and clinician.
He conducted research and worked with young investigators
at the NEI for 20 years before his death in 1993. Dr.
Cogan contributed in many areas of research, patient
care, and education, and authored more than 500 articles.

During this time, Dr. Cogan asked Dr. Kupfer to preserve
his collection of clinical cases and pathology reports
from more than 6,000 patients by archiving them as a
study and teaching collection of ophthalmic pathology.
When Dr. Kupfer stepped down from the NEI Directorship
in 2000, a position he held for 30 years, he began assessing
Dr. Cogan's collection of clinical materials and ophthalmic
pathology slides.

“From the start, I was excited by the possibility of
making Dr. Cogan’s vast collection available to students
and eye care professionals worldwide,” said Dr. Kupfer. “The
primary purpose of this database is to serve as a study
and teaching tool. Without a doubt, understanding pathology
enhances the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat
diseases of the eye and visual system. Anyone in the
world with Internet access can call up the material
and use it for study, teaching, and other purposes.”

Through the efforts of Dr. Kupfer and others at NEI,
a portion of Dr. Cogan’s pathology slides and clinical
descriptions have been electronically converted and
are available online. For more information and to access
the David G. Cogan Ophthalmic Pathology Collection,
please visit: http://www.nei.nih.gov.

The National Eye Institute is part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and is the Federal government's
lead agency for vision research that leads to sight-saving
treatments and plays a key role in reducing visual impairment
and blindness. The NIH is an agency of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH)  The
Nation's Medical Research Agency  is comprised
of 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the
U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the
primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical, and translational medical research, and investigates
the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and
rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its
programs, visit www.nih.gov.